The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-02
THE BRITISH BARNARD.
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND PRETTY
BUMPERS AND THEIR DANGERS.

How One BARNARD Became q Duchess
and Two Others Married Lords-A
Good Barlnaid Who Died Young
How the Various Types are Regarded
by the British Matron.
Correspondence Of the PHILADELPHIA Press.
LONDON, May 1.-The British barrneid
stands alone.
She is as much recognized as an English
institution as the church, the House of Lords
or the Cunard line.
She numbers, in London, 25, 600 strong.
She is always young, and generally
pretty.
She is the pariah of the public house, the
outcast of respectable society, the rejected
of the philanthropist and the parish visitor.
There are no associations for the benefit of
the barmaid. There are no Bible classes,
no prayer meetings, no special services for
her, Even the wicked ballet girl has her
Sunday tea poured out for her by lady of
high degree, but not the harlnaid No one
cares whether she is overworked and under
fed. how long she stands on her feet, and
what sort of food she is given to eat; what
becomes of her when she is i'll or loses her
place.
Every woman who works for her living
from the ''shop sewer" who earns her seven
pence day to the swell saleswoman who
rockets her fourteen shillings q week.-Mrs. a
sheer for the barmaid, and between her and
her antipodes, the British matron, there
vawns gulf so wide that it is never spanned
unless by sausage roll and glass of pale
sherry which the barmaid puts on the
counter with an aggravating slam and the
matron pays in coppers for with a con-
temptuous sniff.
THE BARMAID's REQUISITES.
There must be a superstition to the effect
that barmaids have no souls; for 10 at
tempt is made by any religious body to
reach or to save them. Good men and good
women scour the slums of London to succor
and reclaim the most degraded and de
praved of women-women who were bred,
born and brought up in badness-but no eff
fort is made to protect or to save the bar
maid who, nine times out of ten, started
out in life respectable girl and one i'll ten
remains so in her occupation.
The q, 900 women employed in pouring
liquor down the huge throat of thirsty Lon
don are young and goodlooking. The first
requisite demanded of the barmaid is that
shall not be under 16 nor over 30, though
many publicans and sinners draw the line at
% years of age. Her popular name is Polly
Polly, as a rule, has a skin wholesome in its
pink and whiteneSs, and not averSe to little
dimples. A thick crop of curly hair is cut
close to her head, and her eyes, be they
black or blue, are sure to be fine Poily's
poorest feature is her mouth, for it is coarse
4 " cut, and only the redness of her lips and
her splendid teeth make one forgive the
4 glimpse of her gums when she laughs. A
black dress, white collar and coquettish
j apron give an air of refinement and neat
ness not always native.
1t is taken for granted that Polly must be
f light of foot and deft of hand. She must
4 be honest in money matters and good
Il tempered. Above all, she must not be
4 squeamish. To the gilded youth of Great
u Britain the barmaid is a special Joy, crea-
i ton for his benefit, and he Is quick to pick
4 out the prettiest one behind the bar. There
i she is chained to her place as securely as if
4 to log. He can stare at her az long and as
meaningly as he likes He can say bad
words and she dare not resent it, because he
4 has ordered brandy and soda. Then he
tells her a stale joke or compliments her in
the coarsest of terms, interlarded
with frequent my deaIs," and she
| has to smile and look as if she liked it.
and by and by she comes to like it, and
that's where the mischief begins. What
/ tries Polly most, though, is to hear two of
her patrons discussing with much JUNCTION
and not little profanity her ''good points
exactly as if she were a horse, and deaf at
| that. AS she stands behind the long white
counter or bar of marble, with its shining
pumps, its pyramids of sweets, fruits cakes
and sandwiches, rosy, tidy and alert, hand
ing over hard-boiled eggs, buns, cheese
cakes, cold sausage and sliced ham, she is
not an unpleasing picture, and one always
to be found at the railway refreshment
rooms and better class of public houses,
pastry cooks and theatre cafes.
WHERE THE BARNARD COMES FROM
1t would be hateful and unjust to think
that the barmaidS under the heads enumer-
ated were all whited sepulchres Many of
them are daughters of small farmers and
more of country innkeepers Some have
come from the house of the village school
master and others from the village parson-
age-good, honest girls, decently reared
and driven to this resource to make a living
The great ambition of respectable bar
maid is to get place in one of the refresh
ment rooms, hotels or restaurants man
aged by famous firm who employ
thousands of women in this capacity
and Will not take girl without some sort of
recommendation. Here the hours are long
and the pay small, but the girls are under
tae charge of manageress, who keeps an
eye ON them, and they sleep on the premises.
They also have their black wniting-gowns
gwen them and are treated with some show
OF humanity: indeed, one of the girls told
me that this firm was the only one that made
1t rule to let barmaid refuse to serve a
man who insulted her
Even with these advantages the atmos-
pnere OF exposure profanity and drin'- does
us work IN deadening the moral senses, and
Where one girl in the long run holds her own
nine Succumb, slowly or swiftly, according
70 their individual power to resist tempta-
Clon, and drifting away join the terrible
army that desolates Babylon.
Another but much smaller class of bar
maids find places in country or suburban
INNS and are much better off though they
lali TO see it in the craving for the excite
ment OF city life. In the inn the barmaid is
made one of the landlords family She takes
her meals at the same table, sits in their
pew on Sunday and knows the names of the
reguiar customers, especially the CONNER
claI travellers, many of whom make her
presents In return for little services she has
chance to render. To be sure, she Is rather
,ree III her jokes and her Partially for the
maze sex IS apparent; nevertheless, she is
trusted and well treated.
10 Is not an uncommon thing for bar
llalo IN position of this sort TO end bv
marrying the hostler of the inn or neigh
uo;llng publican' and speaking of this re-
.llnds me OF one of the strangcst romances
'n idGt ever bofell a barmaid
=, Inc Duke Of Chandos, at the beginning of
S NC eighteenth century, was conspicuous for